OSNews

I wanted XFCE on my Debian install anyway, looks like I have a solution

The "decision", if it can be called that, to parallel release this distro optimized for each WM is a decidedly odd one, but It seems to make sense. I mean, I have had different "sessions" in various distros, but I usually settled on one I liked best. To know that someone has already done the tweaking for me for a particular WM is somewhat comforting. I hope this doesn't muddy the water too much for the folks at Canonical, but more power to the users who support such efforts. E(nlightenment)buntu, anyone?

Ebuntu = Ubuntu + E17
Gubuntu = Ubuntu + Gnustep
Flubutnu = Ubuntu + FLTK + EDE

any others?

excellent - i've been waiting for a good slid distribution to be centred around the more work-centric xfce.

... are belong to us.

And,

'buntu: resistance is futile.

I'm currently running Ubuntu 5.10 PPC on a Pismo Powerbook.

I have a Gateway Solo "Fireant" PII 366 w/96 mb of ram sitting around. It's fine under W98 but is it a Xubuntu candidate?

Looks like OSDir was pretty quick with the screenshots:

http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=517&sli...

I'm all for choice, but really, if you want to try Xfce, there's nothing stopping you apt-getting it through Synaptic on a regular Ubuntu system.

This ?buntu distro splitting by 2nd and 3rd parties does nothing for Ubuntu, Ubuntu has the potential makings of an almost consistent platform and slightly less a complete random bag of packages smished together. This brand-dividing doesn't help.

BeBuntu!

i agree with the poster who is all for choice. Kubuntu came about because at first Ubuntu was pretty much gnome only. As the packages were ported it gathered momentum and became what it is. Currently there are a bunch of des available. I really dont see the need for every single one of them to have their own 'buntu.

Xfce is a great DE, imho, especially for slightly less powerful computers. It runs really well on my old P3 notebook whereas the newer Gnome stuff runs slow and use about 30-40 more megs of ram.

Even so, there is a lot of "me tooing" with Ubuntu at the moment. Not all these Ubuntu derivatives are going to work and not all are going to last if/when the devs leave college, get a new job, marry, whatever. I can get all the goodness of up-to-date Xfce plus anything else I want on Debian Sid with none of those risks involved. I mean, good luck to the guys but there are saner choices out there for running Xfce if you want to avoid becoming dependent on just the one team.

I don't think this can do anything but HELP Ubuntu...it can show everyone just how powerful a base Ubuntu is.

In my experience, the combination of Ubuntu and these DM's is extremely powerful.

For instance, I'm a huge KDE fan, and the Gnome implementation in Ubuntu isn't my style. Yes, I know you can tweak it (that's what OSS is all about, after all).

Anyway, since i had so many CD's sent to me for free that I've yet to get rid of, I discovered an amazing way of easily and rather quickly (for those with decent broadband) installing your own *Buntu. If you install using the "server" option (essentially, minimal) you'll get a small install with a console:

You can then, as you wish, do a "sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop, ubuntu-desktop, and/or xubuntu-desktop". This will install everything you need for a basic working system and your DM of choice.

As a warning, I don't think that apt-get remove will remove these cleanly...so installing all of them is easier than removing them. You could use adept (kubuntu) or synaptic (x/ubuntu) to remove the DE and whatever you wish, of course.

That way, those Ubuntu CD's can quickly provide access to any of the *Buntu's! And if your old comp has limited drive space, this method skips installing GNOME and all. by using this method and installing xubuntu-desktop (works beautifully on an old laptop of mine)you'll avoid losing any unneccessary space.

Sorry for the long post, but I felt everyone might want to know that it's very easy to use (or switch) any of the *buntu-desktops thanks to apt-get and a bit of playing around...

Edited 2005-11-29 03:07

Guys, currently I'm using Xfce 4.3 which is the development version. It's becoming complete. Maybe the only remaining issue is icons on the desktop, which they will try to put in the 4.4 version. It means that the folks who are used to having icons on the desktop will be able to do so in a standard way with Xfce.

Simply put, Xfce 4.4 will be joining Gnome and KDE in usefulness and in user friendliness, but hopefully it will be lighter than the other two, meaning that if you need to compile the three, you will be able to have Xfce 4,4 in 1 hour while you would have to wait 3 or more hours for the other two to compile.

This fast roundtrip in downloading and compiling and installing of Xfce 4.4 I think can't be matched by the other two, so Xfce 4.4 could indeed become the default desktop manager for most of the interested distros, no matter what "packaging manager" they use.

Xfce 4.4 will be as standards compliant as possible.

Xubuntu, currently, doesn't enjoy the new features which will be launched for the Xfce 4.4, but in 4 months maybe Xubuntu will be able to use the best of what exists for Xfce.

So, like in everything, a third via sometimes is the way to go.

"We are the buntus, resistance is futile, all your base belong to us!" :-)

Emacubuntu - "Why install a Desktop Environment on top of OS, when you can have a text editor that IS the OS."

In other news...
Mubuntu - from the "Midnight Commander for Desktop Environment" leage

jeffbax wrote:
"I wanted XFCE on my Debian install anyway, looks like I have a solution "

it's as simple as typing:
apt-get install xfce4

Do you need some forked distro that would do it for you?? lol

I just received my Ubu 5.10 CD, so I will soon try it, and I really, really, really like XFCE. My only problem with XFCE is that fonts look slightly different (slightly less pretty) under XFCE than they look under GNOME or KDE (at least on FC4 which I use at the moment). I tried to tweak things in the XFCE control panel but to no use.

Does anyone know why fonts look different and how this can be solved?

hummm

Xubuntu is very polished and runs well on my PIII 500. It comes with a bunch of useful taskbar plugins (network traffic, cpu load, volume, etc.) It never crashed either.
For those wondering "why make a seperate distro?" It isn't really a seperate distro. You install Ubuntu and then add the Xubuntu repo and it installs and configures the xfce desktop for you.

i think Ubuntu have to take care not to split-up to much. Ubuntu started with a great idea and a great concept but i think it's not good for Ubuntu is it is divided in several different Distributions.

Personal i like the idea of a complete Free Software Distribution like Gnubuntu. But if i look at the actual direction of Ubuntu i ask my self what desktop will Gnubuntu use? Gnome? And what will the other groups say about it. Will we end with Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, XUbuntu, Gnubuntu, Gnubuntu-KDE, Gnubuntu-Education, Gnubuntu-Xfce,... I think Ubuntu have to rework there overall concept.

When ubuntu first came out. I liked how tight it's abstraction layer was in masking the concept of different DEs and WM.

Unfortunately problems are arising. It looks like the buntu* name is running around and they are all packaging said DE or WM as the default. And seeing as how Ubuntu recognized Kubuntu as official, that once solid OS with a clear path seems to be fizzing away.

At this point Ubuntu should just package multiple DEs and WM and let the user choose what to install from installation. Its comparable to whats happening to the *buntu name now

Disclaimer: I'm one of the MOTU ( http://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU ) in charge of Xubuntu.

Firstly, let's clear up some misconceptions.

Xubuntu is targeted toward desktop users that have slimmer hardware (or perhaps stronger minimum hardware requirements) than can run comfortably GNOME or KDE by default. Like the other *buntus, its aim is not so much a different _distribution_ as it is a different _default installation_. One of the most common misconceptions is that each *buntu is a separate distribution. While that's valid, that's really the wrong way to look at it, because each has a different default installed base residing on top of the slim Ubuntu metapackages. You can install any of the *buntus and easily add any or all of the others. Xubuntu clearly is not a fork or branch of Ubuntu. Our packages reside in the Ubuntu repositories, and our work is fed upstream to both Debian and Xfce. The development of Xubuntu stems solely from the community. While Jani and I are pushing for main promotion for some Xfce packages, xubuntu-desktop's package selection (its Dependencies, really) is determined by fellow Xfce afficionados and even critiquers. _You_ have a voice -- come make it heard on the xubuntu-devel mailing list ( http://lists.ubuntu.com/ ).

Jani and I began working on integrating Benny's (of Xfce, Thunar, os-works, etc. fame) packages during the development cycle of Ubuntu Warty/4.10. At that point our packages were strongly descended from (and essentially were) Debian's excellent Xfce work. During the development cycle of Ubuntu Hoary/5.04, we began integrating packages from Benny's os-works, and some packages still bear his stamp. During the development cycle of Ubuntu Breezy/5.10, we began integrating our efforts with those of Debian's Xfce team to minimise the differences. You see, despite much naysaying among the FOSS community, Ubuntu developers and maintainers clearly realise our debt to Debian (nearly all the core Ubuntu developers are Debian developers) and work to maintain minimal differences in source packaging.

Secondly, please read Mark Shuttleworth's wiki entry ( https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MarkShuttleworth ), specifically the last paragraph in the "But, I heard that Ubuntu is LESS compatible than other similar projects" section. We have a very specific target audience, and we work on Xubuntu in our spare time. We are not funded by Canonical or Ubuntu; we do it because we like Xfce, because we contribute as MOTU, because we value the existence of the other recognised *buntus, and perhaps most importantly because we believe in the community around and from which Ubuntu has grown exponentially.

Lastly, Ubuntu is not heading anywhere but forward. Nor are Kubuntu nor Edubuntu (the other officially blessed *buntus). Ubuntu already includes multiple desktop environments and window managers. All of us involved in the various *buntus work on Ubuntu either primarily or indirectly. Some replies to this osnews report express concern over a splintering of the Ubuntu recognition, but that is quite far from the reality of those of us involved.

and now what do you prefer, one cd andu click KDE or Gnome or XFCE, or (XX)

or 5 or 6 different cds with different packages ?

Knowing that 90% of the pckages on each cd are the very same ones.

Sounds like a waste that only make ONE single menu option going away. And you still have to make the choice, at download, anyway. And if you plan on testing every desktop env., good luck with your high speed DSL and have fun reinstall all over again several times.

Maybe its a drawback of ubuntu, while its also the advantage that makes it so used: No real flexibility.

MRubuntu - dont let Michael Robertson see this or else he might get a idea.....

Dome Ore Gato MRubuntu

Jake Tate - wows them again....

I think, that an idea of Ubuntu was to have only one DE just for more simplicity. Ordinary user needn't have to know about what DE's are, just get working comfortable system. So putting the choice of DE's would brake that idea.

Edited 2005-11-29 12:10

I agree. What is the point in a new distro just for a DE

Totally pointless

Use apt!

...all we really need now is OpenBuntu (or Obuntu?) with Openbox as the default WM. Some of us really do have strong minimum hardware requirements with no way/money to upgrade (notebook)...and don't tell us to use DSL, it's too simple for some people's needs.

I still don't think xfce will ever be completely accepted without a new filer, even using it with rox the integration is not so hot so I'm waiting for Thunar.

Ubuntu is all about integration and "working", right?

As far as I see it, WM/DE's are separate from the underlying system. Ubuntu is pretty good about getting the underlying system set up well, and the various *buntu projects seem to be taking a hack at making each DE work in a clean, integrated fashion with good defaults and some extra configuration utils.

After a while, with all of the suggested buntu's, aren't we really duplicating debian's efforts? We want a good Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Eubuntu, Xubuntu, Fvwbuntu... so, essentially, we want a good underlying system with apt/dpkg and a choice of desktop offerings.

The idea of Ubuntu is great: Take a strong base and then tweak it and make it work well. But as these projects split off I fear that there is less and less "tweak it and make it work well". Even with Kubuntu, the largest of the Ubuntu splits, I was less than impressed with the ammount of customization.

XFCE doesn't get the respect it deserves.

It's really a fantastic product. I'm not smart enough to change the window manager in a distro, so I have to use Slax popcorn edition to use this manager..


However Ubuntu seems better supported.. so I might have to switch.

...In all its glory. Take one genuinely good Linux distro and then fork it to death without actually adding anything at all.

Most people do not understand or care to understand how their OS works. I think the idea of many different "buntu's" is exactly what is needed. Do you really expect some one with very limited ability to be able to do a server install, then apt-get everything they need and do so successfully. Most of the common folk I deal with do good to check their web mail without infecting their machine. If you are trying to build an OS that will appeal to the masses then you must follow the rule of "KISS" (Keep it Simple Stupid).